Following the confirmation of their CAF Confederation Cup ticket, Kano Pillars football club have promised to use judiciously the ‘golden’ opportunity to atone for their disappointing performance in this year’s CAF Champions League.
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, on Friday, July 10, ratified the decision of the Club Owners to end the current season using the Points Per Game mechanism.
Consequently, the first three clubs, Plateau United, Rivers United and Enyimba have been awarded continental tickets on the platform of the league while Kano Pillars as defending Champions of the Aiteo Cup were handed the second CAF Confederations Cup ticket.
For Kano Pillars, the outbreak of the coronavirus which has put on hold every sporting activity in Nigeria is a blessing in disguise as they are not going to sweat to return to the continent when football reopens later in the year.
It will be recalled that Pillars put up a shambolic display when they represented the country in this year’s CAF Champions League as the ‘Masu gida’ boys crashed out at the preliminary stage when they were eliminated 4-3 on aggregate by Ghanaian giants, Asante Kotoko.
However, the Technical Adviser of Pillars, Ibrahim Musa has assured that the club will put to good use the latest opportunity given to them to represent Nigeria in the continent again.
He said some of the mistakes that caused his club the early exit from the 2019/2020 Champions League will be addressed early to avoid a repeat of that disappointment.
“We are all excited to be back in the continent. It is a golden opportunity for us to compensate our fans. Last time, we exited the Champions League quite early and I know how painful it was for all of us.
“Things will be done differently this time for us to justify our rating as one of the best clubs in the country,” he said.
Musa also said his club would have retained the 2020 Federation Cup even if the competition was played.
According to him, they had concluded plans to win the trophy back to back.
“Some might feel we were lucky to be handed the continental ticket but the truth is that we were going to retain the Cup.
“We had made up our minds on the very day we won the trophy to retain it,” he said.
